Kohl’s Corp. reported its board of directors terminated CEO Ashley Buchanan for cause just weeks after it handed him the reins. Kohl’s Chairman Michael Bender was named interim CEO.
According to Kohl’s, an investigation conducted by outside counsel and overseen by the board audit committee concluded that Buchanan (pictured above), who moved to Kohl’s after serving as CEO of Michael’s, violated corporate policies by directing the company to engage in vendor transactions that involved undisclosed conflicts of interest. The board determined that to be cause for termination, according Kohl’s.
Kohl’s maintained Buchanan’s termination is unrelated to company performance, financial reporting, results of operations, and the termination did not involve any other of its personnel. In accordance with his employment contract terms, Buchanan losses his board seat, and the company has withdrawn his nomination as a director at the election that will occur during Kohl’s 2025 annual shareholders meeting, according to Kohl’s.
Bender served as president and CEO of optical retailer Eyemart Express from 2018 to 2022, having previously serving as the company’s president from 2017 to 2018. He also held various executive management positions at Walmart, most recently as COO of Global E-commerce. Bender will remain on the Kohl’s board, and he will step down from certain committees on which he serves as well as from his role as chair while acting as interim CEO, Kohl’s said. The board plans to announce a new chair in due course, Kohl’s indicted, adding it would initiate a search to identify a permanent CEO.
